[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 2 (Tuesday, January 5, 2016)]
[House]
[Page H7]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               E-FREE ACT

  (Mr. FITZPATRICK asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. FITZPATRICK. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to tell the story of 
Amanda Dykeman of Illinois, one of the tens of thousands of women 
permanently harmed by the sterilization device known as Essure.
  After Amanda had the device implanted in 2010 at the age of 28, her 
hair began to fall out, she felt great fatigue, continuously fought 
urinary tract and kidney infections, and would suffer from severe 
abdominal and joint pain. She suffered with so much pain that she would 
contemplate suicide. Her symptoms subsided after a total hysterectomy 
in 2013, but, physically, she knows that the device left her 
permanently damaged.
  I rise as a voice for the Essure Sisters, who number in the 
thousands, to tell this Chamber that their stories are real, their pain 
is real, and their fight is real.
  Mr. Speaker, my bill, the E-Free Act, can halt this tragedy by 
removing this dangerous device from the market. I urge my colleagues to 
join in this fight because stories like Amanda's are too important to 
ignore.

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